Zaorálek: The head of the Lidice Memorial lacked empathy

Prague - The director of the Lidice Memorial, Martina Lehmannová, who resigned as of today, according to Minister of Culture Lubomír Zaorálek (ČSSD), lacked the ability to communicate with people and the empathy necessary for dealing with survivors. Because she is professionally qualified, Zaorálek offered Lehmannová at a meeting on Monday to resign from her position. The minister told reporters today that he now wants to quickly announce a selection process for her successor. He hopes to find someone who has a connection to Lidice and is capable of empathy and sensitivity.

Some people who survived the extermination of Lidice accused the director last year of distorting the facts. This was a response to a television report about an alleged denunciation by a resident of Lidice, who was said to have reported her Jewish tenant to the police. Lehmannová today rejected the accusation of not respecting the facts. She decided to resign because she does not trust Zaorálek.

The minister stated today that he tried to address the rift between the Lidice survivors and the memorial last year. The people who survived the Lidice tragedy announced at that time that they were suspending their cooperation with the memorial. "They complained that, in their opinion, they were not treated with enough sensitivity; their objections were serious," Zaorálek noted.

Back then, Lehmannová said she told him that without cooperation with the survivors, the work of the memorial was meaningless. "At that time, I said that this is the first task she has, that the relationships must be rectified," Zaorálek stated. However, according to him, the director was unable to manage communication, and the events after the New Year indicated that nothing had changed. "It seems to me that she is not capable of that task based on empathy and the ability to communicate with people and empathize with what they have experienced," he added. On Monday, he offered the director to resign herself, as being dismissed might worsen her future job prospects.

Zaorálek wants to announce the selection process as soon as possible. "And to find someone who not only has the ability to understand facts and history but also people," he said. He added that he does not want to interfere in the debate of historians. "I am concerned about how the memorial performs; I am not looking into expert matters," he added.

The Lidice Memorial commemorates the Nazi extermination of the village of Lidice on June 10, 1942. The pretext was the alleged connection of the village to the assassination of the Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich; out of approximately 500 inhabitants of Lidice, 160 survived the war. On June 10, 1942, 173 Lidice men were shot directly in Lidice, and subsequently, on June 16, 1942, another 26 citizens of Lidice were killed in Prague-Kobylisy. Fifty-three Lidice women did not survive the concentration camps. In a deportation camp, 82 Lidice children were suffocated in a gas van. After the liberation, 143 Lidice women and 17 children gradually returned to Lidice.